Klarinet Archive - Posting 000047.txt from 2002/11

From: "Will Hartung" <willh@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Returning to the fold
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 14:08:06 -0500

Hi folks, I don't mean to intrude but this is a realm where I am beyond
ignorant.

My wife wants to get back into playing the clarinet. She used to play in
High School. Now, High School was, well, let's say "a long time ago".

Anyway, I am musically disinclined. It's one area that I am truely ignorant,
but I'm trying to help her as best as I can anyway. I feel lucky if I can
tune the radio.

We've been looking on ebay, but I think that's a dangerous place for the
uninformed. They should have named it CaveatEmptor.com.

There are a LOT of cheap "brand new, top of the line" clarinets being sold
for ~$120-$150. But, somehow by looking around on the internet in other
places, that price range isn't even close to what others are selling
clarinets for.

Also, it seems clear that the musical instrument industry hasn't taken to
the internet in a big way either. Most probably this is because instruments
tend to be pretty personal, whereas toasters, disk drives, and CD's are very
commodity items. I don't find clarinets on Amazon.

Of course, on the other hand, clarinets seem to be pretty expensive -- $700+
for a new one. That seems to be a big leap for an entry level person.

I looked over the woodwind.org site, but couldn't find any of the ~$300 mail
order dealers that were mentioned, at least not obviously, at least not on
line. The retailer list seems more filled with accessories and sheet music
than actual instruments.

$300-$500 seems a much more approachable price point.

She's not real comfortable getting a used one, mostly because we're not
knowledgable enough to rate it as being "good" or "bad".

So, I'm thinking that this pretty much leaves us to music stores.

We live in Orange County, CA (Tustin to be precise), and I'm willing to do
some driving if I have to in order to find a good place (Meaning, perhaps,
Los Angeles or San Diego).

Is anyone familiar enough with these areas that they can suggest some places
for us to visit? Or even have some other solid tips for helping her getting
back in to this? I'd like her to take lessons, because I think that it will
help her get over the frustrations that can sour something like this early
on, and I don't want a combination of a poor instrument and the lack of
expertise to make it even worse.

This seems like a pretty high level list, and I apologize if this isn't a
real appropriate topic, but I'm really clueless on this and just want to
make it a good experience for my wife. Her birthday is in 3 weeks :-).

Any pointers would be appreicated.

Thanx!

Best Regards,

Will Hartung
(willh@-----.com)

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